Friday, February 6, 2009

February 5, 2009

Mother asks help in finding daughter missing for years in KSARONALDO CONCHA, GMANews.TV02/05/2009 07:37 PMEmail thisEmail the EditorPrintShareThisJEDDAH, Saudi Arabia - A mother has appealed to the public to help her find her daughter who has been missing since she came to Saudi Arabia 17 years ago.

Aysa Noraguia, 65, said her then 16-year-old daughter Saida went to the kingdom on October 22, 1992 to work as a domestic helper.Since then, Aysa said, her daughter has not come home to the Philippines even once.

Aysa said she has asked the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) and the radio station dzRH for help. The radio announcer was reportedly able to talk to Sadia who said that she was okay at her workplace and just had no chance to talk with her mother.

However, Saida's sister-in-law Antonina said the last time that she sent a letter was eight years ago in 2000.But she said they could not look for her because they had no money to do so.

Before he died, he asked us to find Saida]And so, she said they asked their relatives in the Middle East to help them, hoping that one of them might meet her in Jordan where she reportedly always goes with her employer.

Since they haven't been successful on their own, they are now once again trying to find her by asking help from the public and government through the media.“I just want to see her again, I can't sleep thinking about her, before I die I want to see her. There is nothing I can do if she doesn't want to see us, the only important thing is that we now she is alive," Aysa said in Filipino.

Welfare Officer Romeo Pablo of the OWWA in Jeddah said he has assured the missing OFW’s mother that they are taking the necessary steps to locate her daughter.

Pablo said that they coordinated with members of the Filipino community in Tabuk, a province in northwest Saudi Arabia where Saida supposedly works, but were not able to find lead.Pablo said the OWWA has also asked the Filipino community in Jeddah for help.

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rafael Seguis has also prodded the Philippine consul general in Jeddah, Ezzedine Tago, and other DFA personnel

In a telephone interview with GMANews.TV, Aysa appealed to anyone who could help locate her long-lost daughter to either contact the consulate in Jeddah or the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila.